European Integration. First Experiments

Abstract

Hereafter we deal successively with Benelux, the OEEC, the CMEA and EFTA. Since terminological confusion is the rule in discussions about European integration, some concepts are explained in an introductory section.

Keywords

Member State Member Country Monetary Union Custom Union Custom Duty

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Without doubt the trade liberalization programme of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation still stands out as one of the more solid achievements in the efforts towards Western European integration.

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Bibliography

A. Benelux

All the Treaty texts, together with comments, subsequent conventions, ministerial decisions, etc, are incorporated in the loose-leaf work Union économique Benelux. Textes de base,published by the Benelux Secretariat, supplements to which are issued at regular intervals.Google Scholar

Periodicals published by the Secretariat include Bulletin Benelux (since June 1957) — published up to March 1960 under the title of Bulletin Trimestriel (six issues per year) — and Bulletin Trimestriel de Statistique Benelux (since January 1954). There are also separate publications dealing in particular with wage policy and comparative budgets. See also Rapport Commun des Gouvernementsbelge, néerlandais et luxembourgeois au Conseil interparlementaire consultatif de Benelux sur la réalisation et le fonctionnement d’une Union économique entre les trots états (yearly). In English: the Benelux economic union. A pioneer in European integration (1987).Google Scholar

A good historical survey up to 1956 is found in J. E. Meade Negotiations for Benelux an annotated chronicle 1943–1956 (Princeton, Princeton University, 1957). A more systematic exposition is provided by J. E. Meade and S. J. Wells, “The building of Benelux 1943–1960”, in J. E. Meade, H. H. Liesner and S. J. Wells Case studies in European economic union. The mechanism of integration (ed. J. E. Meade) (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1962).Google Scholar

B. The OEEC

The Annual reports of OEECespecially the 9th report. A decade of cooperation Achievements and perspectives (Paris, 1958); the Annual reports of the EPU. See also The OEEC History and structure (8th edn. Paris, 1960). The numerous publications issued by the Organization are listed in the 1958 catalogue. From Marshall Plan to global interdependence. New challenges for the industrialized nations (Paris, OECD, 1978) is more forward-looking than historical.Google Scholar

Explorations in OEEC history (OECD, Paris, 1997); S. Sullivan, From war to wealth: fifty years of innovation (OECD, Paris, 1997): history of the OECD.Google Scholar

There are comparatively few recent studies on the OEEC: most of the articles were published during the years 1950–55. Reference may be made to the relevant chapters in J L’Huillier Théatie et pratique de la coopération économique internationale (Paris, Editions Génin, 1957) and in M. Palmer et al European unity A survey of European organizations (London, George Allen & Unwin, 1968).Google Scholar

On the origins of the OEEC and the policy of the United States: M. Beloff The United States and the unity of Europe (London, Faber & Faber, 1963) and E. van der Beugel From Marshall aid to Atlantic partnership. European integration as a concern of American policy (London, Elsevier, 1966). Chapters 2 and 3. On the application of the OEEC Code of Liberalization see I. B. Kravis Domestic interests and international obligations. Safeguards in international trade organizations (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1963), Chapter 3, and G. Patterson Discrimination in international trade The policy issues 1945–1965 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1966), pp. 75–119.Google Scholar

The extract quoted is from K. Pécsi, The future of socialist economic integration (edited with a foreword by Paul Marer, Armonk New York 1971, translated for the Hungarian edition of 1977 ).Google Scholar

D. Efta

The European Free Trade Association (3rd ed., Geneva, 1987) and the Update 1987–1989 (May 1990) give a good overall picture of the Convention’s provisions and the organization’s activities. The Association’s Annual reports and the EFTA Bulletin may be usefully consulted.Google Scholar

See also The Free Trade Agreements of the EFTA countries with the European Communities. Occasional papers include N. Lundgren, Government finance and foreign trade in the EFTA countries (1986); P. Wijkman, The effect of new free trade areas on EFTA (1989); id., Patterns of production and trade in Western Europe (1990).Google Scholar

F. V. Meyer, The European Free Trade Association. An analysis of “The outer seven” (New York, Praeger, 1960), and E. Benoit, Europe at sixes and sevens The Common Market, the Free Trade Association and the United States (New York, Columbia University Press, 1961), Chapter 3, are useful works on the establishment of EFTA; V. Curzon, The essentials of economic integration; lessons of EFTA experience (London, Macmillan, 1974 ); R. Middleton, Negotiating on non-tariff distortions of trade. the EFTA precedents ( London, Macmillan for Trade Policy Research Centre, 1975 ).Google Scholar